1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for separating and collecting different grades of grape juice from a continuous action dejuicer, and more particularly to the structure and method of use of drip pans.
In the making of grape juice, wine and other spiritous liquors from grapes it is usually necessary to separate the grape juice from the pulp, skin and seeds. Originally this was accomplished by pressing or squeezing the grapes and then removing the pulp, skin and seeds from the juice. As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, various kinds of mechanical presses were made, culminating in a continuous action "dejuicer" having an elongated perforated cylindrical barrel within which a helical screw rotates so as to force grapes constantly being fed into the entrance end of the barrel through the barrel against resistance at the discharge end, thus expressing the juice from the pulp, seeds and skins through the perforations before the pulp, seeds and skins are extruded from the discharge end of the dejuicer.
Conventionally, the barrel of the dejuicer is inclined with the entrance end lower than the discharge end. As the grapes are urged upwardly up the barrel by the helical screw, they are first pressed lightly and then with increasing force as they progress upwardly through the cylindrical barrel. The lightly pressed juice (corresponding to the "first pressing" from wine presses) is considered to be of the highest grade, with the grade quality decreasing as more and more pressure is exerted on the grapes.
In an attempt to segregate or "classify" the different grades of juices passing through the perforations of the dejuicer barrel, a series of circumferential flanges perpendicular to the axis of the barrel and helical screw are affixed to the exterior of the barrel so that the lower quality juices from the upper end of the barrel will not flow downwardly along the exterior of the inclined barrel to mix with the higher grade juices.
Conventional dejuicers have sheets of metal (called "drip pans") fastened beneath the dejuicer barrel to intercept and channel juices dropping therefrom to troughs which are in turn connected by conduits to storage tanks or other wine making apparatus.